Rights to request flexible working
Anyone with children under 6, or disabled children under 18, has been able to request flexible working since 2003. From 6 April 2007 onwards this right was extended to employees with caring responsibilities for adults.
Requests can cover patterns of work, hours of work, or place of work. While employees have no automatic right to such flexible working changes the request (which needs to be made in writing) must be considered seriously by the employer, and can be refused only if there are clear business grounds for doing so.
The definition of a carer in terms of the new right to request flexible working is any employee who is or expects to be caring for an adult who:
- is married to, or the partner or civil partner of the employee; or
- is a near relative of the employee; or
- falls into neither category but lives at the same address as the employee.
The “near relative” definition includes parents, parent-in-law, adult child, adopted adult child, siblings (including those who are in-laws), uncles, aunts or grandparents and step-relatives.